Start a Capsule Wardrobe With Archives - Page 2 of 155

Start with Art – Tulips by Susan Jane Walp

July 24, 2026

She has room in her bedroom to hang 16 garments. Well, maybe 20, but certainly not more than that! Her clothes live in an ante-room off the main part of the attic. Old houses...

Her plan for the upcoming cool weather is to build a 4 by 4 Wardrobe of casual clothes; she wears a uniform for work, so this is the majority of what she will need for her personal life.

She wants this mix of colors:

She chose her color palette partly because she already has quite a few garments in these colors! One should always start a wardrobe (travel, seasonal, stress-dressing) with clothes you already have and like!

Our heroine is going to use the 4 by 4 Wardrobe Template to keep herself organized; it's easy to grab a ... View the Post

A “Formula” Color Palette Starting with Navy, and Starting With Art!

July 20, 2026

I used this painting here on The Vivienne Files back in April of 2020. Doesn't that seem like a century ago?

This color palette comes up at a great time - one among you is going to be an election observer in a town A LONG WAY FROM HOME. And it's expected that she will have to be there for anything from 5 to 14 days. Sounds fun, eh?

But to be practical, she wants to avoid both bright blue and bright red clothes, she doesn't want to be TOO dressy, but she wants to be able to dress up if it is necessary.

I always start a travel wardrobe with a cluster of clothing that could be worn (along with a travel outfit) in a lot of different ways. In theory, one could survive a trip with 8 or 9 garments, presuming that some ... View the Post

Can There Be a Template for Wardrobe Color Schemes?

July 20, 2026

I should be in Dublin when you read this. Yes. Back to Europe. Sometimes my plans aren't the most efficient, or the most restful. But packing repeatedly makes me think of planning, and being organized...

Just over two years ago, I introduced you to this painting and this palette. I think it's safe to say that for at least the current while, this is my signature palette:

I've been thinking for a while that pretty much any wardrobe could "come together" around a color palette that included two neutrals, two accents and denim. (your definition of neutral and accent is up to you - if pink and purple are your neutrals, I'm not going to tell you it's wrong!)

So I put denim blue at the base, literally, of this graph, ... View the Post

July 2026 – Building a Wardrobe Starting With Lonely Erika Giovanna Klien

July 13, 2026

Let's pause for a moment and admire the amazing details in this painting - the marbled, denim-colored areas, the subtle letters that spell out "einsam", the little flashes of green and blue. It all looks simple at first, but you and I both know that it's a lot harder than it seems:

Halfway through the year, our heroine the text design specialist had this wardrobe. I love that we can clearly see her fondness for button-front shirt and tee shirts. All of our wardrobes should reflect our strong preferences!

These are her accessories, coming into July. The green shoes keep catching my eye, in a good way:

As with so many of us, our heroine has cool clothes in mind this month. Finding the tote bag was a ... View the Post

July 2026 – Building a Wardrobe Starting With Saints Genevieve and Apollonia by Lucas Cranach the Elder

July 10, 2026

Our researcher of all things Gothic architectural detail is in Paris. Melting. Loving her small borrowed apartment with air conditioning...

First up, let's savor her signature work of art - the painting from which she draws her color palette, and the serene grace that she tries to emulate in her life:

some day I'm going to be in a pub quiz in which they hold up photographs of paintings and ask "who's the artist". I'm going to OWN that pub....

At the end of June, our heroine had this wardrobe. She clearly has some great things to wear in hot weather, which is a good thing!

This was her accessory collection. So bright, so pretty, so useful!

She's looking for another outfit that she can wear in the ... View the Post

July 2026 – Building a Wardrobe Starting With Common Shelduck by Dennis A. Jones

July 8, 2026

Our heroine is spending this month, and part of next month, hanging out at a small rural college in Vermont, where fervent bird-counting is underway! Happily, her responsibility is tallying numbers, and NOT sitting out in a concealed shelter for hours and hours...

She takes her inspiration, and finds her discipline, in this photograph:

Coming into the month of July, this was our heroine's 28-piece wardrobe. She didn't bring all of this with her to Vermont...

Neither did she bring all of her accessories. I could easily justify ONE pair of boots for any trip at any time, but two pairs of boots, in July, in North America?

This month's wardrobe additions reflect our heroine's rural, hot ... View the Post

July 2026 – Building a Wardrobe Starting With Spirit of Autumn by Albert Pinkham Ryder

July 6, 2026

I'm home from Paris. Well, I'm actually writing this the day BEFORE I leave, so I'm assuming that everything went swimmingly...

Let's revisit our heroine who spends her work time listening to others. She draws her personal style inspiration from this painting:

She finished the first half of the calendar year with these 28 pieces of clothing as her work wardrobe. Most of us have a ton more than this, but I think we might be able to agree that this is pretty sufficient:

If you get bored with the clothes (although clothes maybe shouldn't be a big source of entertainment!), the accessories can liven things up a bit:

When our heroine was looking for additions to her wardrobe, she was thinking of adding ... View the Post

July 2026 – Building a Wardrobe Starting With Ruffled Autumn Clouds by Emile Nolde

July 3, 2026

Our heroine, the ambitious bank employee, takes her wardrobe inspiration from this beautiful work:

At the end of June, her wardrobe included 28 garments:

And this snappy assortment of accessories. Our heroine is beginning to really understand the joy of wearing scarves...

This month, she's finally buying a suit! It's linen, so she understands that it's for mostly warmer weather, but she's absolutely NOT opposed to buying a second suit for cold weather. Men wear suits every day...

And yes, she went nuts on the scarf. Finding something that looked just right with her newest accent - the Baltic teal - wasn't easy. But the scarf will still be around long after she's the CEO of the entire bank holding ... View the Post

July 2026 – Building a Wardrobe Starting With Winter Cottonwoods by Georgia O’Keeffe

July 1, 2026

While many of us are struggling with the lack of brightness and contrast in this wardrobe, I think most of us at least really admire this painting:

At the end of June, our heroine the landscape designer had this capsule wardrobe - 28 garments:

And these are her accessories. While the clothes are quite simple, her accessories are a bit ore interesting. Yes, she does indeed have the exactly same tote bag in two colors! And her scarves are deliciously lovely...

Our heroine found some casual things that will be useful for when she's meeting clients outdoors. She doesn't do this as often as she had once believed she would - a couple of visits to the site seem to be sufficient for her part of the work. But ... View the Post

Traveling? Don’t Know What to Pack? Start With a Scarf – Madagascar by Lost Pattern NYC

June 29, 2026

Happy Birthday To Me! I should be sitting in a cafe in Paris when you read this...

It seems from your emails that traveling in September is very popular - except for that whole "warm weather? cold weather?" question.

Of course, we all watch the weather like hawks before we leave, and we adjust accordingly. But it's comforting to have an idea before you start flinging clothes into a bag...

How about a centering inspiration, in the form of a scarf WITH LEMURS!!! I love the detail of their striped tails throughout this:

These are the colors that I chose to try to find. Is anybody else having the experience that LOTS of things are sold out, or are only available in strange assortments of sizes? It's a bit ... View the Post

Another Summer Long Weekend Wardrobe: Start With Art – Birds in Winter by Atsushi Uemura

June 26, 2026

Her experiment of packing just teal and white was so much fun, she decided to try the same idea with a different accent color.

Her painting inspiration is this:

She had always had the persimmon/berry color in mind; this is her color palette so far:

She's taking the same six pieces of white clothing, but she's changed up some of her silver accessories for gold things. These small changes can feel like they make a huge difference!

She finally found the red that she wanted - a color that Eileen Fisher calls grenadine. Accessories were a bit easier to find in this color than they were with teal!

She thinks that this long weekend travel capsule wardrobe feels both summery and ... View the Post

Would You Like a Formula for Summer Get-Away Wardrobes? Start With Art – Birds in Winter by Atsushi Uemura

June 24, 2026

She goes away a lot in the summer. Mostly long weekends with a group of friends who have homes at the beach.

The packing part drives her crazy. She doesn't need to really dress up, but she still always finds herself on Thursday nights trying to make up her mind what to pack.

Then she saw the birds:

No painting could be more "out of season" than this, but she's inspired by the teal and white. She loves teal, and she looks really great in it.

And so she ponders, what if she put together a core of white clothes, and then added teal accents? The persimmon could be nail polish (or a second accent capsule!)

This is how she's thinking:

She starts with white. Yes, it gets dirty. She doesn't care; it's ... View the Post